Reliance plans to extend its prposed Pipeline project upto Tuticorin

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) plans to link Kakinada and Basudebpur, the landing points of its two mega gas sources --- the D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin and the NEC-25 block off the Orissa coast -- with an 890-km pipeline.
While Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh is the landfall point for gas coming from the D6 block, gas from the NEC-25 block will land at Basudebpur in Orissa.

Going by discoveries already announced by RIL, the current estimated gas reserves from these two blocks stand at over 25 trillion cubic feet.

According to a plan submitted by RIL to the petroleum ministry, such a multi-source system will not only ensure continuity in supplies to consumers but also enhance their reliability and security.

RIL has planned a large network of pipelines to evacuate gas from these two gas sources. With an investment running into billions of dollars, the three mega gas pipeline projects proposed by the company include the 1,500-km Kakinada-Uran (Maharashtra), 1,400-km Kakinada-Chennai-Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and the 1,100-km Kakinada-Basudebpur-Howrah (West Bengal) routes.

The petroleum ministry has already floated expressions of interest for booking capacities from these three pipelines, to be built on a common carrier basis.

In addition, Reliance also proposes to extend its pipeline from Chennai to Tuticorin, besides covering Bangalore and Mangalore.

Two more pipelines have been planned from Basudebpur to Cuttack in Orissa and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, and from Basudebpur to Howrah, Hooghly and Bardhaman in West Bengal. RIL has also written to the ministry to later extend them to cover Chattisgarh and Bihar.

Following the upscaling in production from its KG basin D6 block, from 40 mmscmd to 80 mmscmd, Reliance has for the time being put on hold plans to develop its NEC-25 offshore gas block in Orissa.

As a consequence, the markets of West Bengal, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, which Reliance had earlier proposed to supply gas from its offshore block, will now be fuelled by supplies from its D6 blocks from 2008-09.